3D Printing Bringing Sci-Fi Future Closer to Reality

Posted Date 02/13/18

A few years ago predictions for 3D printing had it that we would be printing our food by the end of this decade and although this hasn’t yet happened, we’re going there, writes Independent’s Marie Carter.

3D printing is changing every industry and helping it advance into directions that a decade ago would have sounded like science fiction. Take bioprinting, for example. 3D printing technology has allowed scientists to create living tissue and will in the future make it possible to create organs, making donor register obsolete. Recently, scientists said they’d managed to print living cells using 3D printing tech, so the reality of 3D printed, compatible organs is drawing nearer.

Healthcare as a whole has been one of the areas to most benefit from 3D printing. But it is by far not the only one. Aerospace and the military have benefited from the adoption of 3D printing. 3D printed drones, to be made on-demand, on the spot, can reduce logistics headaches and expenses during missions. Aircraft components can be 3D printed, too, and already are.

At the same time, household printer adoption is growing, too, at least according to research companies. Gartner has predicted that low-cost 3D printer sales will come to account for 28.1% of total 3D printer sales by the end of this year, versus 11.6% in 2014.